Are you still wondering what the heck is up with all this Alphabet talk? It may seem confusing at first, but it’s really quite a simple concept.

As we explained in our thorough Alphabet run-down, this was pretty much done to separate Google from all its subsidiaries, as the Search Giant was getting too large for its own good. With each company operating on its own, under a different leadership and personalized strategies, each division can now thrive in a much more specialized manner.

Not to mention, investors would be more interested in small companies that will grow fast and strong. To a giant like Google, these smaller companies’ successes don’t mean as much in terms of revenue.

But there is another factor to consider here, and it’s one our fellow dreamers at Google seem to be more focused on. Google founder Larry Page took the stage at a Fortune Magazine dinner in San Francisco to tell us a bit about what they want to see coming from Alphabet, and the key focus was innovation. Even more so than business or money (or so he says).

The major point here is that it would be a mess if Google tried to run all of its acquired companies. Aside from Search and Android, Google would have to operate Calico, Fiber, Ventures, Capital, Nest and many other subsidiaries to come. It’s just not what Google is “good at”, so they thought it was better to give these companies a bit of breathing space.

Under the Alphabet system, engineers and scientists would have more freedom to create the awesome products they impressed Google with, to begin with. Not to mention, these inventors probably don’t like the idea of working with a company, and would feel more inspired otherwise. There’s plenty of annoyances stapled to working with a large company like Google.

“Companies have pretty bad reputations. It’s not like a lot of people wake up in the morning and say, ‘I want to go work for a company.’ They do it because they have to.” -Larry Page, Google founder

The key point we have to take away from this is that the switch to Alphabet was not about the consumer; it was about employers and employees. This is why Google chose the name “Alphabet”, apparently. They didn’t want it to be too catchy for the user, as it could overshadow Google. As a consumer, you should see little to no difference in the way you interact with these services.

Now we just have to play the waiting game and see how all these Alphabet companies take advantage of their new freedoms. The future looks bright and full of letters. You can be sure we will spell them all here at Android Authority as soon as any detail emerges!

In the modern world of leaks and rumours well before most official announcements, it’s rare that a company truly shocks the industry. Google, being Google, managed to do just this yesterday. After what could be years of planning, Google yesterday announced Alphabet, its new parent company that encompasses all of its brands, including Google.

Google founders name Sundar Pichai as Google CEO, create new parent company called Alphabet

August 10, 2015

What is Alphabet and what does it mean for Google as we know it? Let’s find out.

What is Alphabet?

What is Alphabet? Alphabet is mostly a collection of companies. The largest of which, of course, is Google. This newer Google is a bit slimmed down, with the companies that are pretty far afield of our main internet products contained in Alphabet instead.

Essentially, this means that Google as we know it will be split off from the other divisions such as Life Sciences, Calico and its investment arms, Google Capital and Ventures, which will become part of Alphabet.

Why the change to Alphabet? Simply put, Google was too big for its own good and as each of its subsidiaries grew, the company would find itself stretched. Under the old structure, the company would need to plan strategically as a search giant/thermostat maker/operating system developer/internet provider but now, the slimmer Google can just focus on its core aims of providing Internet products and services to consumers, like you or me.

Page continued:

“Sergey and I are seriously in the business of starting new things. We’ve long believed that over time companies tend to get comfortable doing the same thing, just making incremental changes. But in the technology industry, where revolutionary ideas drive the next big growth areas, you need to be a bit uncomfortable to stay relevant.”

Looking at Google’s new Android M operating system, it’s clear that the move is designed to prevent the businesses from only making iterative advancements as opposed to real innovation and going forward, the slimmer Google should hopefully be able to innovate more easily.

What does Alphabet mean for Google as we know it?

One of the biggest changes in Alphabet is the ability of each business to have its own CEO and this is likely to be one of the biggest reasons behind the new structure; as a division of Alphabet, Google is now able to run independently of the other businesses and focus purely on its end product.

The newer slimmed down Google will be run by Sundar Pichai, who steps up to become the new CEO of Google. He will control all of Google’s divisions, except for YouTube, which will continue to be a sub-division of Google but will be run by current CEO Susan Wojcicki. By letting Pichai take the reigns at Google, both Page and Alphabet President (and Google Co-Founder) Sergey Brin, can take a step back and focus on the future. Page said:

Sergey and I have been super excited about his progress and dedication to the company. And it is clear to us and our board that it is time for Sundar to be CEO of Google. I feel very fortunate to have someone as talented as he is to run the slightly slimmed down Google and this frees up time for me to continue to scale our aspirations … Google itself is also making all sorts of new products, and I know Sundar will always be focused on innovation—continuing to stretch boundaries.

One thing that’s not immediately apparent is whether Page will continue to lead Google’s product launches (such as Google I/O) or whether Pichai will now be the main man. With Google expected to launch its new Android M OS alongside new Nexus devices later this year, there won’t be long until we find out.

The new structure

What does the new structure mean for the other companies inside the new parent company? It’s simple really; they will have their own CEO and mission and can execute this without worrying about the other businesses. One benefit of the restructuring is that businesses such as Google and Nest Labs are ready for other people to run allowing Page and Brin to take a step back and focus on products for the future.

Look at Calico – the business focused on combating disease and extending human lifespan – and it becomes clear that this is a business with the potential to be as big as Google itself. If there’s anyone who can find a way to defy age, it’s the company that owns the world’s largest search engine and you wouldn’t bet against them taking it to the big pharmaceutical companies.

The other businesses that will also become part of Alphabet with their own leadership teams are:

Google X houses the most secret of Google’s projects – including Google ATAP – and being spun off into Alphabet allows it to focus on products for the future without worrying about the Google of the present. If you use a Google product now or in the coming years, chances are that it was developed inside the Google X labs.

Google Ventures and Google Capital are Alphabet’s two investment arms and spinning off from Google itself should make acquisitions a lot simpler as well, with less concern and stigma around data being collected and used by other Google businesses. The spin-off should also make it easy for Alphabet to buy competing businesses and possibly get around competition regulation, although this is yet to be seen.

Nest Labs has changed the way we automate mundane tasks inside our home and continues to do so. During the acquisition of Nest Labs, Google went to great lengths to confirm that Nest was not related to its search business – over fears that it would use the data in search – but the new structure of Alphabet means this is no longer a concern. Nest Labs continues to revolutionise the way we do things in our home and a focus on the future – led by current CEO Tony Fadell – could see the company deliver an integrated smart home suite.

Alphabet is definitely an interesting change for Google but with the giant arguably becoming too big for its own good and being stretched thin across its various businesses, the change should hopefully streamline the operations of all the companies.

Money, money, money

The restructuring should also mean significant changes for shareholders and the stock market alike. Under its old structure, the wider Google group reported all its figures together with only some declaration of individual performance, but the restructuring should hopefully provide some more transparency.

As an example – under the old structure, Google’s Venture arm may have invested $500 million in a bold new startup only for it to fail and this would have an impact on the wider Google group financials. As such, shareholders may have questioned whether it would have been better to invest the money in developing the core Google businesses. Under the new structure, the company could report the Google Ventures and Google financials separately and while this may not change shareholder opinions about the money being spent, it should provide greater transparency on the performance of individual units as well as the company as a whole.

For the stock market as well, the restructuring could prove to be a blessing in disguise; one of the hardest jobs in the world is predicting the future as you can never be completely accurate. If Alphabet were to report on the individual financials of each division, it would provide the stock market with an indication of the future. Want to know where Google is likely to be in five years (from a financial viewpoint)? Simple – primarily look at the recent performance of Google Ventures and Google Capital (alongside the other businesses of course). Want to know more about Google’s dominance of the search industry? Simple – just look at the performance of the core Google business.

Instead of wading through financial documents, the new reporting may provide more transparency and a clearer indication – at a glance – of where the company currently stands and where it may be in the years to come. For the company itself, the restructuring may also mean they can take advantage of tax breaks but this is yet to be confirmed and we won’t quite know how it are set up until it reports its first set of financial results.

Alphabet Soup

The restructuring of Google to form Alphabet (including a slimmer Google) may seem complex but it’s rather simple; the core Google business (including Search, YouTube, Android etc) becomes a slimmer Google, while its other businesses (Calico, Nest Labs, Venture etc) become part of Alphabet.

If you’re still not sure on the structure, CNNMoney have published this very easy-to-digest infographic showing the changes:

So there you have it – Google is now Alphabet including a slimmer Google. For consumers, you probably won’t notice any changes as Google (at least as we know it) will remain the same.

You’ll still be using a Google Nexus device and Google Search but the wider unrelated businesses will no longer affect the ability of Google to adapt and change to the market. From a mobile perspective, this is definitely a good thing and maybe now, Google will be able to really innovate in everything it does going forward.

If a new report from Re/Code proves correct, Google is making a pretty significant leadership change by placing Sundar Pichai as the head of nearly all of Google’s core products. The news of this change comes from “sources close to the situation” and cites a new staff memo that says Larry Page will be stepping of the way to focus on the “bigger picture”, as he feels that it’s too hard to do so with all the “many reports and a myriad of duties related to each product unit.”

With this change Sundar Pichai will be taking on considerably more responsibility by not only continuing to lead the efforts for Android, Chrome and Google Apps but also adding search, maps, research, G+, commerce and infrastructure to the plate. The executives in charge of the above mentioned areas previously reported directly to Page but will now instead report to Pichai. While Re/Code’s sources say the move doesn’t necessarily make him “heir apparent” to page, it’s obvious that Sundar is a star on the rise, and this latest move shows just how much faith the company puts in him.

Of course the re-positioning doesn’t take all the burden away from Page, who will still be responsible for business and operations, access and energy, Nest, Calico,corporate development, legal, finance and business, and even Google X. Youtube will also remain under the control of CEO Susan Wojcicki, who will still report to Page.

What do you think of the change, have you been happy with Android and Chrome’s direction since he assumed leadership in both positions? When the day comes for Larry Page to retire, do you think Pichai would make a good candidate for replacement?

]]>http://www.androidauthority.com/pichai-responsibility-543430/feed/29The State of Google, by Larry Page, and why his dream search engine is still a million miles awayhttp://www.androidauthority.com/larry-page-state-of-google-381652/
http://www.androidauthority.com/larry-page-state-of-google-381652/#commentsThu, 15 May 2014 10:57:54 +0000http://www.androidauthority.com/?p=381652

In his recently published Founders’ Letter for 2013, Google CEO Larry Page talks about the company’s recent accomplishments and plans for the future.

On search

Search is still Google’s bread and butter and its most important product, so Page unsurprisingly talks a lot about how Google works to turn Search into the “engine of [his] dreams,” which “gets you just the right information at the exact moment you need it with almost no effort.”

On Google Now

We’re still “a million miles away” from that ideal search engine, according to Google’s co-founder, but Google Now, the intelligent assistant built into Android, is a step towards solving that “hard problem.” In his letter, Page extols Google Now’s ability to deliver relevant information at the right time without any input from the user. Besides organizing and delivering information on its own, Now also attempts to understand context, and improving this ability is another of Google’s key goal.

On Google Plus

Google Plus, whose future some put into question following the departure of Vic Gundotra, is another step into providing personalized recommendation into a truly intelligent way, says the exec. By mentioning it in his letter, Page may be attempting to dispel the notion that Google is not committed to Plus, once and for all.

On Android

On Android, Larry Page says the platform is still “growing fast” and that, in 2013, developers on the Play Store earned from user payments four times what they had earned in 2012.

On Chrome

Page also praised the Chrome browser, now at 750 million users, and the Chromecast, products that enable users to take their media across platforms and screen sizes.

On the future

In a nod to Google’s moonshot products, the CEO mentioned some of the most important developments that the company revealed in the past year, including Project Loon, the Calico healthcare offshoot, and the smart contact lenses, which, Page revealed for the first time, will be called Iris. Talking about Loon, Page announced that the project’s first actual deployment will be in northeastern Brazil, where Google’s high-altitude balloons will give internet access to a classroom.

Larry Page’s entire letter is worth reading, for its insight into Google’s way of thinking and its plans for the future. Check it out here.

Today, Google is introducing Calico, which they refer to as a company focussed on “health and well-being, in particular the challenge of aging and associated diseases.” Heading the new company is Art Levinson, an Apple chairman and former CEO (and current chairman) of Genentech. Levinson will be CEO and a founding investor of Calico, which stands for “California Life Company”, but Levinson notes in his Google+ post that making reference to cats with nine lives is great, too.

Larry Page, co-founder and CEO of Google, had this to say about Calico:

[quote qtext=”Illness and aging affect all our families. With some longer term, moonshot thinking around healthcare and biotechnology, I believe we can improve millions of lives. It’s impossible to imagine anyone better than Art—one of the leading scientists, entrepreneurs and CEOs of our generation—to take this new venture forward.” qperson=”” qsource=”” qposition=”center”]

Levinson went on to add “Larry’s focus on outsized improvements has inspired me, and I’m tremendously excited about what’s next.” Rounding out the triumvirate of support, current Apple CEO Tim Cook added “For too many of our friends and family, life has been cut short or the quality of their life is too often lacking. Art is one of the crazy ones who thinks it doesn’t have to be this way. There is no one better suited to lead this mission and I am excited to see the results.”

In an interview with Time, Page — who famously has vocal cord damage, and is reluctant to give many interviews — was taciturn about Calico’s reach and scope. Like many of Google’s ventures into a new territory, the driving force is a perceived problem, not means to a solution. Google is as committed to the voyage as they are the results, and Calico should be no different. “In some industries, it takes 10 or 20 years to go from an idea to something being real.” Page said. “Health care is certainly one of those areas. We should shoot for the things that are really, really important, so 10 or 20 years from now we have those things done.”

There is no laser-focussed goal yet, but Calico is supported by a group of people who have a visceral interest in what’s accomplished. Levinson is dedicated to health, and Page has a very personal reason for seeing this through. Even Cook, who watched a friend and mentor pass away slowly, tipped his hat to Jobs in calling Levinson “one of the crazy ones”.

All Google moonshot ideas have one guiding principle: changing lives. This one may be the best yet.

Google’s CEO revealed during the company’s Q2 2013 earnings conference call that he’s “really excited” for the upcoming Moto X, although it’s not all good news for Motorola, especially when looking at its financial performance.

Page revealed during his remarks that he has been a tester of the Moto X for a while, without specifically naming the device. However, he did not mention any details regarding the announcement of the handset in his prepared speech.

During the questions session, Page was asked about that rumored half a billion Moto X advertising budget but he did not confirm or deny the number. Instead he said that Google is “doing things that are normal for that business,” adding that that “probably too much has been made” about it in the news.

The CEO also hinted that Motorola is an independent company when asked “how Google was walking that fine line between wanting the Moto X to be a success but not such a success that it affects major Android partners like Samsung.”

Motorola, however, is yet to be the successful company Google probably wants it to be. Google CFO Patrick Pichette says that “a lot of progress” has been made at Motorola, but when looking at the numbers you’ll see that the company is still in the red.

Despite being a Google subsidiary, the company is yet to be come a profitable Android player, and the losses continue to accumulate for Google on top of the initial $12.5 billion it paid to acquire it.

In Q2 2013, Motorola posted a loss of $342 million, 75% bigger than its Q2 2012 loss, despite revenue increasing 18% compared to the same period last year to $998 million.

Motorola has halved its workforce in the past quarter, registering 4,599 workers at the end of Q2 2013 compared to the 9,982 employees that were working for the company at the end of the first quarter. At the same time, the U.S. factory will hire more than 2,000 employees that will be working on those Moto X units.

With the Moto X expected to be a low-cost device, it’ll certainly be interesting to see how Motorola performs in the coming quarters. The device won’t be the only new smartphone the company will launch as three Android-running beasts will join the Moto X this summer, all of them expected to be unveiled by Verizon during a special event next week.

]]>http://www.androidauthority.com/moto-x-larry-page-motorola-financial-performance-245796/feed/22Google says 1.5 million Android devices are activated each day, same number as in Aprilhttp://www.androidauthority.com/google-1-5-million-android-devices-activated-day-245790/
http://www.androidauthority.com/google-1-5-million-android-devices-activated-day-245790/#commentsFri, 19 Jul 2013 08:23:51 +0000http://www.androidauthority.com/?p=245790

During Google’s Q2 2013 earnings call, Larry Page mentioned some statistics about Android, but some of those numbers are similar to what the company announced a few months ago.

According to the speech the CEO gave during the call (transcript available at Source link below), 1.5 million Android devices are activated each day, which is an impressive accomplishment for a five-year old mobile operating system.

The only number that has changed is the total number of app downloads. Page said that over 50 billion apps have already been downloaded from the Play Store, with Google paying “more money to Android developers this year than in the whole of 2012.” At I/O, the company said that 48 billion apps had been downloaded.

At the time Steve Jobs was nearing the end of his long bout with cancer, an important shift in Google management was afoot. Eric Schmidt had been running the show, while Larry Page and Sergey Brin decided what direction they wanted to pursue within Google, and his tenure at the top was just about done. Larry was set to take over the day-to-day operation, and Sergey decided to play in his laboratory, creating all kinds of forward-thinking products and services.

Page, understanding that Jobs was ill (and not going to recover), made a pilgrimage. Steve Jobs was the single greatest mastermind the tech world has known; a technology Jesus of sorts, both building Apple from scratch, and later resurrecting it. He was himself once a young man, in charge of a very large technology company. If anyone could provide proper insight to a young Page as he became the leader of the free tech world, it was Jobs.

The advice

“Figure out what Google wants to be when it grows up”. Succinct, salient, and sound advice. This was Jobs in his final months. He fondly recalls his gut reaction to Page asking for a meeting was to say “F you”, but his cooler head later prevailed. Remembering that HP co-founder Bill Hewlett once guided him, Jobs thought it best to pay it forward.

We did not enter the search business. They entered the phone business.

Jobs clearly saw promise in the future, if not Page. Under Schmidt, Google had been seen as direct rival to Apple. “We did not enter the search business. They entered the phone business. Make no mistake, they want to kill the iPhone. We won’t let them.” was Jobs’ line from a 2010 town hall meeting. Schmidt, who had been a mainstay on the Apple board of trustees, was squeezed out over increasingly competitive practises at Google. Android and Chrome were considered to be in direct competition with Apple products, and Jobs was not fond of someone he considered the enemy, sitting on his board.

Meaning

Jobs, for all his thermonuclear talk, was benevolent in his twilight. After the initial chat, Jobs approached Page for a follow-up commentary. He cautioned Larry about the quality and number of Google products. “They’re turning you into Microsoft”, Jobs quipped.

Fiercely proud of his Apple products and brand, Jobs was giving Page the only advice he knew to deliver. Perhaps Jobs was urging Page to take the reigns of Apple’s momentum, and ride it into the next frontier. What can be taken from the commentary is that Jobs so wanted Google to emulate Apple in some respect. He wanted young Larry to be more like Steve Jobs.

The Apple way

Apple has made some fantastic products over the course of their timeline. They’ve also innovated some stellar services, and pioneered one of the most crucial shifts ever in the music industry’s move to digital. Would Google be wise to follow that path?

The company Jobs bled for is fabulous at delivering his vision of technology. It is not, however, good for us. Variety is important, and Apple is a little too vanilla in that regard. A variety of colors is not terribly important to mobile tech fans, but a choice in functionality is.

Larry Page had no intention of turning Google into Apple, but he listened to the message Jobs gave.

Apple services work fabulously. They are simple, straightforward, and fairly intuitive. From desktop to mobile, Apple does it right. They also settle into a niche once they expand a sector of the market. After taking a notable share of the mobile market is 2008, The tandem of Android and iOS have effectively wilted the competition since. In 2009, iOS boasted roughly ten times the sales of Android devices.

Since that time, Android has grown rapidly, and continues to do so. Apple’s iOS platform has not enjoyed such a rise, and has since settled into a niche. The same effect had been seen years before in the PC market: Apple expansion, then Microsoft dominance. Beautifully crafted products, which move slowly for an increasingly rapid moving technology landscape. The Apple way is not the only way, and Page knew that.

]]>http://www.androidauthority.com/larry-page-and-steve-jobs-advice-given-lessons-learned-221476/feed/11Larry Page reveals the truth about his lost voicehttp://www.androidauthority.com/larry-page-lost-voice-209500/
http://www.androidauthority.com/larry-page-lost-voice-209500/#commentsWed, 15 May 2013 08:58:57 +0000http://www.androidauthority.com/?p=209500

Larry Page talked for the first time about the medical problems that caused him to let Sergey Brin do most of the public talking for Google lately. Fortunately, it seems that there isn’t much to worry about.

You may remember that there has been quite a bit of speculation around the Google CEO’s voice problems, which caused him to miss Google I/O last year. At the time, Page told investors in a letter that there was “nothing seriously wrong”, and Eric Schmidt stated that Page would continue to run the company as before.

Now, after a year in which Sergey Brin and Eric Schmidt have done most of the public speaking for Google, Larry Page decided to take to Google+ and explain his problems, reassuring everyone about his health. In short, it all started with a cold fourteen years ago, after which Page never fully recovered his voice back. The founder of Google was diagnosed with left vocal cord paralysis, without an actual cause being found.

While that didn’t affect him much, after another cold last summer, Larry Page’s doctors found that his second vocal cord was also affected, again with no particular cause found.

Page says that things are going better now, and that he can manage both at work and at home, but giving long speeches is more difficult for him and those listening.

Nothing to worry about

Still, there are no serious worries, as Page says himself, and there are even good things that come with the situation.

[quote qtext=”Vocal cord nerve issues can also affect your breathing, so my ability to exercise at peak aerobic capacity is somewhat reduced. That said, my friends still think I have way more stamina than them when we go kitesurfing! And Sergey says I’m probably a better CEO because I choose my words more carefully. So surprisingly, overall I am feeling very lucky.” qperson=”Larry Page” qsource=” ” qposition=”center”]

In order to help others with the same problem, Larry Page announced the funding of a research program on the rare condition.

It’s good to know that the situation is under control and that Larry Page will be able to perform his duties as usual, even if he won’t be the one talking about what Google has come up with at events such as Google I/O.

The developer conference is starting today and we’ll be covering extensively for you.

In response to a question about how much people can expect to see engagement increment with new products like Glass, he said that “obviously, Glass runs on Android, so [Android] has been pretty transportable across devices, and I think that will continue.”

That’s certainly not a surprising detail considering that Google has at its disposal a very popular and convenient OS for mobile devices, but the company never actually mentioned that Google Glass is running on Android, not even in the official documentation for the product.

Furthermore, in addition to tablets and smartphones, Android runs on various other devices including cameras – as recently revealed, it was initially developed as a digital camera OS – consoles, miniPCs and other DIY devices, many of them prominently featured on Kickstarter on a regular basis. So it makes a lot of sense for Google to use something as handy and versatile as Android for Glass.

At this time, it’s not clear what kind of Android version Glass runs on, but we’ll certainly find out more about in the future, either from Google or from intrepid developers that will start tinkering with the device.

Since we mentioned developers, they’ll probably be the most excited to hear that Google Glass runs on Android, as it should make their jobs easier when it comes to creating and adapting Android apps to run with Google’s smart eyewear.